The present invention relates to an automated apparatus which facilitates both folding and sealing of a pre-glued form by passing the pre-glued form through a plurality of pressure rollers to sequentially fold and seal the pre-glued form into a desired folded configuration.
In the prior art, a variety of folding apparatuses are conventional used and well known in the art for folding pre-glued forms. In addition, a variety of separate sealing apparatuses are also conventional used and well known in the art for sealing pre-glued forms. However, none of the heretofore known apparatuses facilitate both folding of a pre-glued form and sealing of a pre-glued form during a single pass of the form through a sealing and folding apparatus. Moreover, generally at least four rollers are required to facilitate folding of a pre-glued form while at least two additional rollers are required to facilitate sealing of the folded pre-glued form in its folded configuration.
With reference to FIGS. 1-3, the basic folding arrangement for three well known pre-glued forms 1 will be briefly discussed. Turning first to FIG. 1, the single folded configuration for the pre-glued form is shown. According to the single fold, a pre-glued form, which typically measures 8xc2xd inches wide by either 11 inches, 14 inches or 17 inches long is folded. The pre-glued form is passed through a folding apparatus which folds, in a conventional fashion, the pre-glued form in half. A perimeter edge of a first surface of a top half 8 of the pre-glued form is provided with a first component of a pressure sensitive micro-encapsulated epoxy or adhesive 4 while a perimeter edge of the lower half 10 of the first surface is provided with a second mating component of a pressure sensitive micro-encapsulated epoxy or adhesive 6. Once the pre-glued and folded form is folded in half and then subjected to sufficient sealing pressure, the micro-encapsulated first and second components 4, 6 of the pressure sensitive epoxy or adhesive are released from their respective micro-capsules and mix and bonded with one another to seal the folded form in its folded in half configuration.
Turning now to FIG. 2, a second folded configuration, namely a Z-shaped fold will now be briefly discussed. According to this configuration, as with the previous embodiment, selected areas of opposed perimeter edge of a first surface of a top panel 12 of the pre-glued form 1 are provided with a first component of a pressure sensitive micro-encapsulated epoxy or adhesive 4 while selected areas of opposed perimeter side edge of an adjacent intermediate panel 14 on the same surface are provided with a second mating component of a pressure sensitive micro-encapsulated epoxy or adhesive 6. In addition, an opposed perimeter side edges of a rear surface of the intermediate panel 14 of the pre-glued form 1 is provided with a first component of a pressure sensitive micro-encapsulated epoxy or adhesive 4 or 6 while adjacent perimeter side edges of the lower panel 16 are provided with a second mating component of a pressure sensitive micro-encapsulated epoxy or adhesive 4 or 6. Once the pre-glued and folded form 1 is properly folded and subjected to a sufficient sealing pressure, the micro-encapsulated first and second components 4, 6 of a pressure sensitive epoxy or adhesive are released from their respective micro-capsules and mix and bonded with one another to seal the Z shaped form 1 in its folded configuration.
Turning now to FIG. 3, a third folded configuration, namely a letter type fold will now be briefly discussed. According to this configuration, as with the previous embodiment, opposed perimeter side edges of a top panel 8 of the front surface of the pre-glued form 1 and opposed perimeter side edges of a bottom panel 12 of the front surface of the pre-glued form 1 are both provided with a first component of a pressure sensitive micro-encapsulated epoxy or adhesive 4 while opposed perimeter side edges of an intermediate panel 10 of the front surface are provided with a second mating component of a pressure sensitive micro-encapsulated epoxy or adhesive 6. In addition, opposed perimeter side edges of a rear surface of either the top panel 8 or the bottom panel 12 of the pre-glued form 1 are provided with a second mating component of a pressure sensitive micro-encapsulated epoxy or adhesive 6. Once the pre-glued form 1 is properly folded and subjected to a sufficient sealing pressure, the micro-encapsulated first and second components 4, 6 of a pressure sensitive epoxy or adhesive are released from their respective micro-capsules and mix and bonded with one another to seal the Z shaped form 1 in its folded configuration.
With reference now to FIG. 4, a brief description concerning a prior art apparatus for folding one of the pre-glued form 1 described above will now be discussed. As can be seen in this Figure, the prior art folding apparatus 22 comprises four identically sized rollers 24, 26, 28 and 30 which are arranged to form three nips 32, 34 and 36 between each respective mating pair of the rollers. The first nip 32 is an intake nip which feeds the pre-glued form 1 to be folded from an infeed table or platform 38 to a fold channel tray which, in combination with the first nip and the second nip, facilitates formation of a first fold for the pre-glued form 1. As a leading edge of the folded pre-glued form 1 exits from the second nip 34, it is conveyed toward a second stop (not shown). As soon as the leading edge of the pre-glued form 1 abuts against the second stop, the pre-glued is stopped but the second nip continues to convey the pre-glued form 1 through the second nip 34 of the folding apparatus 22 and such conveyance feeds a trailing portion of the pre-glued form 1 into the third nip 36. As the trailing end portion of the pre-glued form 1 passes through the third nip 36, a second fold is made in the pre-glued form 1 and the third nip 36 conveys the pre-glued form 1 to a collection bin (not numbered) where the folded pre-glued form 1 is collected and subsequently sealed by a further separate sealing process.
By passing the pre-glued form 1 through the four rollers 24, 26, 28 and 30 and the three nips 32,34,36 formed therebetween, the two folds are made in the pre-glued form 1. It is to be appreciated that the second roller 26, however, is generally a fixedly positioned roller, i.e. the second roller 26 is fixedly mounted to housing and not spring biased in any manner, while the first roller 24, the third roller 28 and the fourth roller 30 are each spring biased toward one another to accommodate for the thickness of the pre-glued form 1 as it passes between one of the three nips 32, 34, 36. That is, the first roller 24 is spring biased toward the second roller 26 and is moved slightly away from the second fixed roller 26 as the pre-glued form 1 passes through the first nip 32, the third roller 28 is spring biased toward the second roller 26 and moves slightly away from the second roller 26 as the pre-glued form 1 passes through the second nip 34, and the fourth roller 30 is spring biased toward the third roller 28 and moves slightly away from the third roller 28 as the pre-glued form 1 passes through the third nip 36.
As will be appreciated from the above discussion, the folding apparatus, according to the prior art, is only able to provide a folded pre-glued form 1 and a separate further sealing operation, e.g. passing the folded pre-glued form 1 through a sealing apparatus, is required in order to finish production of the pre-glued form 1 in its completely folded and sealed configuration.
Wherefore, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the above mentioned shortcomings and drawbacks associated with the prior art folding and sealing apparatuses.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a single apparatus which provides both a folding operation and a sealing operation to a pre-glued form during a single pass of the pre-glued form through the apparatus.
A further object of the present invention is to minimize the amount of associated rollers required to facilitate both the folding operation and the sealing operation of the pre-glued form as pre-glued form makes a single pass through the apparatus.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a first and second fixed nips to provide a sufficient sealing pressure to the folded pre-glued form as the pre-glued form makes a single pass through the fixed nips of the apparatus.
A still further object of the present invention is to utilize at least three stainless steel rollers, or some other material which is substantially incompressible, as the final three pressure rollers of the folding and sealing apparatus to provide a sufficient sealing pressure to the pre-glued form.
Yet another object of the present invention is to arrange four rollers so as to form three nips between a mating surface of the four rollers, with the first and second nips cooperating with one another to provide a first initial fold for the pre-glued form while the second and third nip cooperating with one another to provide a second fold for the pre-glued form and the second and third nips providing a sufficient sealing pressure to the pre-glued form to facilitate sealing of the folded pre-glued form.
The present invention also relates to a folding and sealing apparatus comprising: a housing, the housing accommodating a plurality of rollers, the housing accommodating a motor for driving at least one of the plurality of rollers via a drive mechanism, a feed surface, supported by the housing, for feeding a supply of pre-glued forms to the folding and sealing apparatus, wherein the plurality of rollers form at least two nips each having a fixed nip clearance and the two fixed nips provide a sufficient sealing pressure to the folded pre-glued form, as the pre-glued form passes through the two fixed nips, to facilitate both folding and sealing of the pre-glued form as the folded pre-glued form passes through the two fixed nips.
The present invention also relates to a method of folding and sealing a pre-glued form by a single pass through a folding and sealing apparatus, the method comprising the steps of: providing a housing, accommodating a plurality of rollers within the housing, accommodating a motor, for driving at least one of the plurality of rollers via a drive mechanism, within the housing, providing a feed surface, supported by the housing, for feeding a supply of pre-glued forms to the folding and sealing apparatus, forming, via the plurality of rollers, at least two nips each having a fixed nip clearance and the two fixed nips providing a sufficient sealing pressure to the folded pre-glued form, as the pre-glued form passes through the two fixed nips, and facilitate both folding and sealing of the pre-glued form as the folded pre-glued form passes through the two fixed nips.